Mooring equipment



June 7, 1: SHORT MOORING EQUIPMENT Filed June 18, 1930 Fla.

IN VEN Ton F RANK SH 01? T ATTORNEY Patented June 7, 1932 PATENT O'FFECE FRANK SHORT, F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY MOORING EQUIPMENT Application filed J'une'lS, 1930. Serial No. 461,949.

My invention relates to improvements in airship mooring equipment and devices the broad object of which is to make the mooring of an airship quicker, easier and safer as well as more convenient for the transfer of passengers, freight, supplies and the like to and from the airship. It has for further object permitting the approach of the airship to the mooring mast element at a higher level than is usual, thereby allowing it to pass freely over high obstacles without danger and thus permitting the location of a landing field nearer centers of population. This application is a division in part of my application mooring devices Serial No. 157,054.

In particular, my invention provides means of mooring an airship in which the airship approaches the mooring mast element entirely above all parts thereof or of the other landing equipment elements, and so is in no danger due to over-shooting or miscalculation of speed, wind, etc. 1

With these and other objects in view, I

have shown in the appended drawing, de-

5 scribed in the following specification and claimed the preferred embodiment of my invention. In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred form of the invention, showing an airship in the initial stages of mooring.

In order to accomplish the objects of the invention, the airship is preferably first made fast to an upright member or special mooring mast that may be adapted to raise or low- 5 er the airship while attached to a movable fitting on said mast. The airship may either be left at the top of the mast or it may be lowered to a platform or to the ground. If lowered, a shelter may be placed about the airship and so avoid the dangers of attempt ing to run the airship into a shelter. In this manner, although the airship may be made fast to the mooring mast under turbulent weather conditions, there is no danger of its striking the shelter, because the latter is opened up wide and hence entirely out of the way. As the airship is lowered, the shelter may be used as a windbreakto ameliorate air conditions about the airship. And as the shelter'is finally closed about the airship,

preferably approximately circular in section to permit of the application of revolvable holding hands 63. At the top of mooring mast 61 and mounted on two of the revolvable holding hands 68 is mounted the T- shaped platform 69. The upright member 11 is secured to and extends slightly above the middle or shorter end of platform 69,

thus permitting the mooring fixture 51 to come somewhat above the level of said plat-' form. A railing is preferably provided around platform 69 for the safety and convenience of the crew stationed there; as are also pulleys, winches, controls, signalling means and other usual equipment. required for the mooring of large airships; Bands 63, platform 69 andits accessoriesand upright member 11 are caused to revolve as a unit about mooring mast 61, preferably under control of an operator stationed on platform 69. v

In the initial stage of the mooring, the airship 1 approaches the mooring mast 61 approximately against the wind and at a slightly higher level than platform 69. It comes slowly forward and seeks to drag nose cables 2 against one of the laterally extending arms of platform 69, where they are secured by the crew and led into the winding mechanism of the mooring fixture 51 and the accessory Winches. The airship will then back away and let itself be drawn slightly downward to the mooring mast. The approach is thus higher, clearance is possible over higher neighboring obstacles and less danger exists of injury, in case the airship at first overshoots the mastbeing at a higher level, it can go clear by and swing around for another attempt. I

Once brought up to the mooring fixture 51 the yaw lines are disconnected and the airship 1 is lowered with said mooring fixture down the upright member 11 by means such as those known tothe art coming into the shelter of the open shelter walls 62. The platform 60 is revolved about the mooring mast 61, being borne by wheels 64 on the circular rails 67 and 16, until in alignment with the wind and airship, approximately. When in reach of the landing crew, the auxiliary cables 3 on the airship 1 are caught and when weather conditons permit are passed through hatches 17 to winches below the landing stage, which winches serve to draw the airship down and hold it in place. As the airship comes lower, the shelter walls 62 are gradually closed about it, giving progressively greater shelter and making it progressively safer to bring the airship closer to the landing platform 60. hen finally the shelter walls 62 are completely closed about the airship 1, it will be safe to bring the airship down to the landing stage or top surface of platform 60, but in this final operation it is desirable to back away from mooring fixture 51, leaving a clear space between the nose of the airship 1 and the fixture 51, and allowing ample slack in the nose cable 2; this permits the airship a certain amount of lateral swing about the auxiliary cables 3 without causing severe stresses at the nose of the airship. Other attachments may be applied to the airship as required in the final or other'stage of the mooring operation.

A plurality of frames are movably attached to the mooring mast 61 at their tops and are mounted on wheels 68 at their hottoms and are thus adapted to revolve about the mooring mast 61 as an axis and be supported and guided at their bottoms by the inner circular rail 67. Between frames 65 is normally provided a pliable sheathing 66 suchas waterproofed fabric, which is loose enough in the figure to permit of revolving shelter walls 62 (to which said sheathing is also attached) to close about the airship and when closed to stretch the sheathing 66 to a reasonable degree of tightness. Thus it will be seen that there is always a continuous surface from the extreme end of one shelter wall to the extreme end of the other shelter wall, making a largedead air space for the reception of the airship.

hen the shelter walls 62 are closed about the airship 1 in its lowered position and platform 60, it is possible and desirable to link these elements together temporarily, so that in swinging with the wind, the whole may move as a unit. The circular tracks 16 are shown restingon the ground 19 and support ing the shelter wall wheels 14eand the platform wheels 64. 7

It will be noted further, that in the above type of mooring equipment, the platform 60 may be eliminated, and the airship 1 be brought right to the ground 19 for loading or unloading. Manpower may be used for pulling the airship down and holding it; sandbags may be hung on for holding down after landing, or water ballast pumped to the tanks of the airship itself for this purpose; electric or other power-driven tractors may be utilized for pulling and holding purposes; and other means may be substituted for the functions performed by platform 60 with a saving in first cost. On the other hand, the convenience of operation with platform 60, and the saving of time in landing an airship together with the reduction in handling personnel would tend to make the additional cost of platform 60 a good investment.

Using. a. platform such as 60, means may readily be adaptetd to the winches therein such that the upward pull on each of the auxiliary cables 3 may be measured and the excess buoyancy of the airship adjusted properly in amount and in distribution, so that the airship, on being released, will rise at a pre determined rate and on a level keel. This would be more difficult of accomplishment without the platform which would constitute a permanent housing for the landing equipment as well as for repair parts, supplies, handling equipment for passengers, baggage, etc., rooms for night crews, customs, and for many other purposes connected with transportation activities of the sort. Provision for friends of the passengers, visitors, etc., may profitably be made in the spaces within the shelter walls 62, thus keeping them separated from the landing platform 60 until it is desired to let them go onto the latter; Whereas during the mooring process such locations would provide excellent views of the procedure .while keeping the spectators entirely out of the way.

Provision would be made for the illumination of the elements of the mooring devices described, and the obvious and desirable location of the main illuminating device would be on the mooring mast or the platform 69, from which locations a strong top illumination of the platform 60 would be provided and would serve as a guide and Wind direction index for an airship landing at night.

Although the mooring equipment described above maintains certain space relations between the elements thereof, this space relation is not essential to the design of mooring equipment involving the principles of the invention. The airship may be lowered into a movable open-topped shelter; or it may be lowered into a fixed building having an opening in the roof of the required size. Further, it is not essential that the airship be lowered at all; platform 60 may be of lesser size and may be pivoted higher on the mast 61 at an appropriate distance below cross-platform 69 to permit access to the main cabin of the airship only if so desired. This latter arrangement is particularly adapted for using the tower of a tall building as the mast element 61.

End curtains or doors may be provided for the open end of the above mooring equipment such closing means being in standard use is not an essential part of this invention. In the figure, such standard closing means has been omitted for the sake of clarity. Other features of standard equipment may be used in conjunction with the principles of the invention, and modifications of the above described equipment or equivalent means substituted therefore may combine to make up the mooring equipment of practice without avoiding the principles claimed as my invention in the appended claims. Electrical power devices and other motive power together with their control mechanisms and methods of application to the elements of the invention can be readily designed by one skilled in the art and are therefore not made a part of these specifications.

Although it is preferred that the airship be provided with nose cable such as 2 and auxiliary cables such as 3, any means of bringing the airship to the mooring mast fixture or attachment point which may be in use now or in the future may be considered the equivalent of nose cable 2; and any means such as standard handling ropes of airships of today or other means devised in the future may be considered the equivalent of auxiliary cables 3.

It may be pointed out that the usual yaw lines, which are normally dropped from the vicinity of the nose of the airship would normally be treated in a manner similar to the nose cable 2 itself, being caught by personnel on the cross-platform 69 and then preferably passed round pulleys or the equivalent located at the ends of the platform 69, thereby facilitating the leading of the nose of the airship 1 to the attachment fixture 51. Such yaw lines may on the other hand be attached to the ground or to any other suitable location laterally disposed with respect to the airship.

, I claim:

1. In a mooring equipment, an upright mast member and a revolvable platform substantially at the top of said mast member to facilitate the catching and means spaced apart on said platform for securing of mooring lines from an airship while permitting the airship to remain wholly above all parts of said mooring equipment.

2. In a mooring equipment, an upright mast member having an elevated cross-platform thereon adapted to facilitate the catching of mooring lines from an airship above, and having centrally located means for securing the nose of said airship and end means on the outer ends of said cross-platform for pulling and securing yaw lines extending laterally from the nose of said airship.

3. In amooringequipment, an uprightmember having airship end-shielding means enclosing and rotatable about said upright means being adapted to be'controllably raised or lowered to the level of said platform or to the level of said shielding means.

4. In a mooring equipment, an upright member, an orientable cross-platform substantially at the top thereof, an orientable landing platform at a lower level and means for securing an airship to said upright member.

Signed at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, this 16th day of June, A. D. 1930.

FRANK SHORT. 

